Classics Midterm 2

Alcmeonids

one of the 3 main aristocratic families/elite clans competing for influence/power (coming through agricultural land and wealth from that. wealth to maintain and expand estate. large estates = influence over local communities and dependents on your land who rent it out) within the Athenian aristocratic system

represent/associated with coastal faction

• coastal regions of Attica

• trade/commercial interests

• more moderate political position between the wealthy landowners of the Plain and the poorer Hill faction

Cylon

• Olympic victor in 640 BCE (athletic fame — kleos)

• aristocrat (elite status)

• Married into an aristocratic family in Megara (political prestige and outside support)

  • literally had everything going for him

• around 632 BCE: attempted a coup to establish himself as tyrant of Athens

  • coup failed

• opposition from Athenians/ppl and rival aristocrats, especially Megacles of the Alcmaeonidae

  • him and supporters killed by Megacles

Megacles

• Athenian aristrocrat of the Alcmaeonidae clan

• lead opposition against Cylon in his attempted coup in 632 BCE

• overpowered and killed Cylon and his supporters

  • Cylon’s supporters took sanctuary at a temple/Altar of Athena on Acropolis

    • holy, sacred spaces divine protection was granted to ppl seeking refuge/sanctuary at altars so killing them or removing them by force = serious affront to Gods

  • Megacles and the Alcmaeonids killed them, violating religious protections

    • creating the religious pollution/stain (miasma) known as the “Curse of the Alcmaeonids.”

STASIS!!!! internal conflict/factional struggle within the polis for power!!!

• civil strife, violence, or competing groups fighting for power in the state

  • different factions in Athens were divided over power and leadership,

  • and the conflict turned violent

• and elite resistance to tyranny, since Cylon’s success would have threatened the power of rival aristocratic families

POLITICAL INSTABILITY

Curse of Alcmaeonidae

the religious pollution (miasma)/stain believed to have fallen on the Alcmaeonidae after Megacles and other Alcmaeonids killed the supporters of Cylon at Athena’s altar around 632 BCE

• Because Greek religion treated sanctuaries and suppliants as sacred, killing them was seen as a serious act of sacrilege that brought miasma — ritual pollution — upon the family

• affront/WAYYY offensive to the Gods

  • generational, divine disfavor onto the family

  • impure, illegitimate to lead even— Rival aristocrats could point to the curse as evidence that the Alcmaeonids were unfit to lead Athens

Pisistratus

• 600-527 BCE

• Athenian aristocrat from powerful Peisistratid family

• tyrant of Athens in the mid-500s BCE

  • came to power via populist support (esp from poorer inland farmers/rural populations rather than coastal commercial elites or wealthy landowners of the plains

  • rose to prominence politically in 566 BCE

• Exiled and returned to power multiple times/goes in and out of power (bc of stasis)

  • because rival aristocratic factions, especially the Alcmaeonidae, opposed him (STASIS)

• broadly well-liked and popular: invested heavily in Athens’ development

• In 566 BCE, institutionalized the Panathenaia

  • Athens’ biggest civic/religious festival and an important part of defining Athenian identity

• Sponsored major public building and infrastructure projects across Attica:

  • development of the Agora (center of civic/political, commercial, social life/heart of Athens)

  • temples/sanctuaries on the Acropolis

    • Doric temple of Athena

    • sanctuary of Dionysus

  • public works projects like roads, fountains, and water systems (like springs)

  • projects at Eleusis and Brauron

• gained legitimacy not just through force, but by benefiting the polis through public works, religion, and stability

  • tyrants are expected to help Athenians out/benefit the polis which he does

    • this is why he’s well-liked and keeps coming back into power

Hippias and Hipparchus

• the sons of Pisistratus who ruled Athens after their father’s death

  • late 6th century

• succession was controversial bc Greek tyranny NOT supposed to be hereditary in same way as monarchy

  • tyrants usually seized or maintained power through military strength or popular support

    • Many Athenians viewed Hippias and Hipparchus negatively because they inherited power rather than “earning” it themselves like Pisistratus had

• Hipparchus was assassinated in 514 BCE during the Panathenaia by Harmodius and Aristogeiton

  • became celebrated as “tyrannicides” (killers of a tyrant) and were treated almost like democratic heroes

  • assassination happening at the Panathenaia (the major festival institutioinalized under his dad)

    • publicly attacked the legitimacy of his him and brother’s rule— you will NEVER be your father

• Hippias was eventually expelled from Athens in 510 BCE with help from the Alcmaeonidae and Sparta

• cautionary tale abt stasis: citizens needed to stay politically vigilant so no individual or family could dominate the polis again

Dracon

Athenian nomothetis (lawgiver) who created the first written law code in Athens around 621 BCE

• Before Draco, laws largely oral and controlled/interpreted by aristocrats, so writing them down made legal rules more public and consistent (benefiting lower and middling classes)

• reforms were largely aimed at reducing stasis — internal political conflict, factionalism, and aristocratic family violence

• laws were famously extremely harsh, with many offenses allegedly punishable by death

  • showing how seriously Athenians viewed disorder and family feuds

• major focus was homicide law:

  • homicide cases were to be judged by the Areopagus rather than through private revenge or blood feuds (retaliatory violence b/w families)

    • Areopagus: judicial body responsible for cases of homicide, wounding, and religious offenses

  • distinguished between intentional and unintentional murder

• homicide laws were so important that they were later retained by Solon even after most of Draco’s other laws were replaced

• reforms attempted to move justice away from personal aristocratic retaliation and toward polis-controlled legal processes

  • trying to control aristocratic violence and stabilize the polis through formal law rather than personal vengeance

Solon

• 630-560 BCE

• Athenian aristocrat, poet, and nomothetis (lawgiver)

  • Served as an archon in 594 BC, called again to serve in 592

• Revered in later Greek thought as a wise man and champion of the people

  • helped stabilize Athens and laid foundations for later democracy

  • reformed during a period of severe economic inequality, debt crises, aristocratic conflict, and fear of stasis (civil strife)

• Repealed most of the harsh laws of Draco except the homicide laws

• introduced the Seisachtheia (“shaking off of burdens”):

  • cancelled debts for Athenians

  • outlawed debt slavery

  • freed Athenians who had been enslaved because of debt

    • full factory reset: aimed to reduce inequality and prevent social collapse or violent factional conflict

• Expanded political participation:

  • allowed all citizens access to the Ekklesia (assembly)

  • all citizens access to courts

  • lowered property/financial requirements for political office, opening more positions beyond the aristocracy

• Introduced moral and social reforms meant to reduce aristocratic excess and competition:

  • regulated women’s clothing and public behavior

  • regulated pederastic relationships

  • limited extravagant funeral displays and luxury

    • especially important bc aristocratic families used lavish funerals to compete for prestige and status

• tried to balance aristocratic and popular interests, reduce conflict/stasis, strengthen the polis, and create a more stable political system that later democratic reforms could build on

Kleros

inherited allotment or portion of land passed down within a family

• in ancient Athens, land = wealth and power,

• aristocratic families tried to keep land within the family across generations (intermarrying…)

• inheritance of kleros helped preserve elite status and family continuity (oikos)

• high wealth inequality in Athens bc some families accumulated much larger landholdings than others

• reflects how deeply land ownership was tied to social hierarchy and power

• owning a kleros was extremely important for maintaining status, influence, and economic security

Tyrant

a ruler who seized sole power outside the normal political system, usually during periods of instability or stasis (civil conflict)

• usually came from the aristocracy,

• gained power through force, political maneuvering, or popular support rather than lawful inheritance

• Tyrants could actually be popular if they:

  • reduced aristocratic conflict

  • provided stability

  • sponsored public works, festivals, and infrastructure

  • or improved conditions for ordinary people

    • For example, Pisistratus remained relatively popular because he invested in festivals, roads, fountains, temples, and the civic identity of Athens.

for Aristotle, tyranny is basically the corrupted or perverted form of monarchy

Kleisthenes

• Athenian aristocrat from the Alcmaeonidae who carried out MAJOR political reforms around 508/507 BCE that laid the foundations for Athenian democracy

• Uses the power of the people and forms a new constitution that completely restructures society

  • isonomia

• reforms aimed to weaken the power of aristocratic families/clans and prevent factional conflict (stasis) by reorganizing political identity around the polis rather than kinship or regional loyalties

• Reorganized Attica into new political units called demes (local districts), which became the basis of citizenship and political participation

• Trittyes system: Created 10 new tribes made up of people from different regions (coast, inland, city) to break up old regional and aristocratic power blocs

• Expanded participation in government and strengthened the role of the citizen body in politics (sorticion)

• seen as foundational for democracy because they:

  • reduced aristocratic dominance

  • weakened factionalism/stasis

  • increased political participation

  • tied citizens more directly to the state rather than elite families

Isonomia

“equality under the law”

• all citizens equally protected under the law

  • male citizens:

    • were subject to the same laws,

    • had legal protections regardless of aristocratic birth,

    • could participate in political institutions like the Ekklesia,

    • could bring cases to court,

    • had a recognized political role within the polis

• from: rule by elite families and factional privilege

• toward: a polis where citizens theoretically shared equal standing before the law and within political life

associated with Kleisthenes

Trittyes system

• Restructuring of the tribal system (from 4 to 10 tribes) in order to break up power

• Patronymics (identifying someone by their father/family line) → demonymics (identifying someone by their deme (local district/community)) — (139 demes)

  • All of Attica is the polis (unusual)

    • “Megacles son of Alcmaeon” to “Megacles of Alopeke” (Now identity is tied to your deme, not your aristocratic family)

• engineering the political system so no single region or aristocratic faction could dominate Athens again

  • weakened aristocratic clans,

  • mixed different populations together,

  • reduced regional factionalism,

  • reduced stasis,

  • and tied people more to the polis than elite families

STEP 1: Divide Attica into 3 big regions

• He split all of Attica into:

  • city (astu

  • coast (paralia

  • inland (mesogeia)

STEP 2: Divide those regions into smaller chunks = trittyes

• Each region got broken into multiple political chunks called trittyes.

  There were:

  • 10 city trittyes

  • 10 coast trittyes

  • 10 inland trittyes

  = 30 total trittyes

  (tritty = singular)

STEP 3: make new tribes by mixing regions

• Each new tribe (phylē) had:

  • ONE city trittys

  • ONE coast trittys

  • ONE inland trittys

    • So each tribe was geographically mixed

      • forced people from different regions into the SAME political tribe.

• Broken down as:

  • 10 city trittyes

  • 10 coast trittyes

  • 10 inland trittyes

  = 30 total.

  Then:

  • each tribe got:

    • 1 city trittys

    • 1 coast trittys

    • 1 inland trittys

  So:
  30 trittyes total ÷ 3 per tribe = 10 tribes

STEP 4: Demes

• Each trittys is composed of several demes (local populations, living on their “ancestral” land)

  • These became the basic unit of citizenship.

Sortition

the random selection of citizens to fill government/political positions in ancient Athens

• Athenians believed political participation should belong broadly to citizens, not just elites or wealthy families

  • the polis is its citizens

  • citizens were expected to actively participate in governing the state, not just live under it

• Sortition helped prevent aristocrats from monopolizing political power because offices were assigned by lot rather than always won through wealth, family status, or influence

• Encouraged civic engagement by making ordinary citizens directly involved in government, courts, councils, and administration

• Reflected democratic ideas like:

• you as an athenian GOTTA participate

Ostracism

political practice in democratic Athens designed to prevent any one person from becoming too powerful or threatening the state with tyranny (reforms of Kleisthenes as an anti-tyrant, anti-stasis safeguard)

• Each year, the citizen body (demos) first voted on whether an ostracism should occur

• If they voted yes, citizens later gathered and scratched a person’s name onto broken pottery shards called ostraka

• person with the most votes was exiled from Athens for 10 years

  • they did not lose citizenship,

  • did not lose property,

  • and were not necessarily considered criminals

• preventative rather than punitive

  • used it when they feared someone was accumulating too much influence, popularity, wealth, or political power that could threaten the polis

• reflects deep Athenian anxiety about:

  • tyranny,

  • concentrated power,

  • aristocratic dominance,

  • and political instability (stasis)

The Persian Wars

series of wars in the early 5th century BCE between the Greek city-states, especially Athens and Sparta, and the massive Persian Empire

• Began after Greek cities in Ionia (persian control region) revolted against Persian rule during the Ionian Revolt (499–493 BCE), with Athens and Euboea helping support the rebels

• Persian kings Darius I and later Xerxes I attempted to punish and conquer Greece (for supporting Ionian revolt)

• Greeks ultimately defeated the Persians despite Persia’s much larger empire and military resources

• recorded by Herodotus

• importance?

  • Helped create a strong sense of shared Greek identity against a foreign empire (Sparta and Athens literally allied at one point)

  • Greatly increased Athenian prestige and power because Athens played a major naval role — Athens came in as underdogs (democracy new, not many allies, not an imperial power)

  • Led to the rise of the Athenian Empire/Delian League

  • Strengthened democratic pride in Athens, since citizens (especially rowers and hoplites) were seen as saving the polis

    • Athenian exceptionalism

Darius I

• r. 522-486

• king of the Achaemenid Empire during the early phase of the Greco-Persian Wars

• led the first Persian invasion of mainland Greece (492–490 BCE)

  • After the Ionian Revolt (where Athens + Euboea supported Greek rebels in Ionia) Darius sought to punish and subjugate the Greek poleis

  • sent envoys demanding “earth and water” for their supreme diety Ahura Mazda, who granted Darius I kingship/divine power

    • symbolic gifts representing submission to Persian authority and recognition of Persian rule

  • Many Greek poleis refused these demands, seeing them as surrendering their independence and autonomy

Xerxes I

• r. 486-465

• king of the Persian Empire who led the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Persian Wars in 480–479 BCE

• Son of Darius I

• continued Persia’s attempt to subjugate the Greek poleis after the earlier Persian defeat at Marathon

• Led massive land and naval invasion into Greece, crossing from Asia into Europe with one of the largest military campaigns of the ancient world

  • In response, about 30–31 Greek poleis formed a defensive alliance, led mainly by Sparta and Athens (crazyyyy duo/alliance)

Miltiades

• Athenian general and political leader (strategos) who played a major role in the Battle of Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars

• led ten generals Athens sends to Marathon. all led by Miltiades,

  • At Marathon (490 BCE), Athens sent its board of ten generals (strategoi), with Miltiades emerging as the key military leader

  • He persuaded the Athenians to confront the Persian army directly rather than wait behind the city walls

  • Under Miltiades’ leadership, the Athenians defeated the Persian forces at Marathon despite being outnumbered

Battle of Marathon

major battle in 490 BCE during the first Persian invasion of Greece, where Athens and Plataea defeated the invading forces of the Persian Empire led under Darius I

• led by Miltiades and fought despite being heavily outnumbered

• Athens sent the runner Pheidippides to Sparta to request aid, but the Spartans could not arrive in time because of the religious festival of the Karneia (and possibly ongoing concerns about helot unrest/Messenian revolt)

  • ayyy go Athens did it w/o Sparta

• The Athenians and Plataeans routed the Persians using heavily armed hoplite infantry and phalanx tactics

  • According to Herodotus, about 6,400 Persians and 192 Athenians died

• The Persian fleet later attempted to move toward Athens but ultimately withdrew from Greece

  • YUPPP got drove Persians out of Greece

Significance

• Massive psychological and political victory for Athens because a relatively small Greek force (underdogs) defeated the enormous Persian Empire

• Created huge Athenian pride and helped build a strong sense of Athenian identity and exceptionalism (like ayyy we did it all w/o Sparta)

• The Athenian war dead were immediately heroized, strengthening ideas of citizen sacrifice and military glory

  • kleos in defense of the polis

  • Reinforced the prestige of hoplite citizen-soldiers and collective civic duty

• Increased Athens’ status among the Greek poleis, especially because Sparta did not arrive in time to help

• created ongoing fear that the Persians would return with an even larger invasion, which they eventually did under Xerxes I in 480 BCE

  • this victory WAS luck

Themistocles

• b.524-d.459

• influential Athenian politician, general (strategos), and naval strategist during the Persians Wars

• was not from one of the dominant old aristocratic families of Athens, though he was still wealthy and politically ambitious

• archon in 493 BCE and became one of the most powerful political figures in Athens

  • went in/out of power and was eventually ostracized because Athenians feared any individual becoming too powerful

• Fought as a strategos at both the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Salamis

• Convinced Athens in 483 BCE to use silver profits from the mines at Laurium to massively expand the Athenian navy by building around 200 triremes

  • Recognized that Persia was strongest on land and that Athens’ greatest advantage was naval power and skilled seamen

• Moved Athens’ naval center from Phaleron to Piraeus, helping transform Athens into a major naval power

• Played a key role in convincing the Greeks to fight Persia at sea rather than relying only on land warfare

• helped lay the foundations for later Athenian naval dominance and empire, while also increasing the political importance of poorer citizens who served as rowers in the fleet

Battle of Themopylae

• 480 BCE

• major battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE,

• a small Greek force led by Leonidas I (King of Sparta) attempted to block the advance of Xerxes I and the Persian Empire at the narrow pass of Thermopylae

• 7,000 Greeks, famously including 300 Spartan Spartiates led by Leonidas

• narrow terrain at Thermopylae helped neutralize Persia’s numerical advantage and allowed heavily armed Greek hoplites fighting in phalanx formation to hold off repeated Persian attacks for several days

• Some Greek troops reportedly debated retreating, but Leonidas remained committed to holding the pass, reflecting Spartan ideals of courage, discipline, and refusal to surrender

• Persians ultimately won only after a Greek traitor, Ephialtes of Trachis, revealed a secret mountain path that allowed the Persians to surround the Greeks

• Leonidas and many of the remaining Greek forces stayed behind and were killed, becoming symbols of heroic sacrifice for the polis

significance:

• Became one of the most famous examples of heroic resistance and self-sacrifice in Greek history

• Reinforced Spartan identity centered on military discipline, anti-cowardice values, and dying honorably for the polis

• powerful narrative of collective resistance

• Delayed the Persian advance long enough to help the Greeks prepare further defenses, especially naval strategy at Battle of Salamis

• civic duty, and resisting foreign domination even against overwhelming odds

Battle of Salamis

• 480 BCE

• naval battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, where the Greek fleet defeated the much larger navy of Xerxes I and the Persian Empire

• After the Persians advanced into Greece and sacked Athens, many Athenians evacuated to the island of Salamis (having built up their naval fleets shoutout Themistocles) while allied Greek fleets gathered there, especially forces from Aegina and Sparta

• The Greek fleet was led strategically by Themistocles, whose naval planning was crucial to the victory

  • Cimon, son of Miltiades, also became associated with later military successes against Persia

• Rather than fighting Persia in the open sea, Themistocles deliberately drew the Persian fleet into the narrow straits around Salamis, where the Persians’ larger numbers became a disadvantage

  • Greek triremes maneuvered more effectively in the confined waters and inflicted a major defeat on the Persian navy

• After the battle, Xerxes returned to Susa, leaving part of his forces behind in Greece (greeks too much trouble)

Significance

• turning points in the Greco-Persian Wars because it prevented Persia from fully conquering Greece

• Demonstrated the importance of naval power and validated Themistocles’ earlier push to build a massive Athenian fleet using silver from Laurium

• Greatly increased Athenian prestige and helped transform Athens into the dominant naval power in Greece

• Increased the political importance of poorer citizens, since many served as rowers in the navy, strengthening democratic participation in Athens

• Reinforced Greek ideas about collective resistance and defense of autonomy against Persian imperial power

Battle of Platea

• 479 BCE

• final major land battle of the Persian Wars, fought in 479 BCE between the Greek alliance and the remaining forces of the Achaemenid Empire

• After the Persian defeat at Battle of Salamis, Persian forces spent the winter in Thessaly before returning south to continue the campaign in Greece

• The Greek forces were led by King Pausanias of Sparta

• The battle featured heavily armed Greek hoplites fighting against Persian infantry and cavalry forces

• During the battle, Persian commander Mardonius was killed, contributing to the collapse of the Persian position

• After the defeat at Plataea, the Persians withdrew from mainland Greece, effectively ending Xerxes’ invasion

Significance

• Marked the effective end of the Persian attempt to conquer mainland Greece

• Preserved the independence of the Greek poleis and prevented Persian political domination/colonization of Greece

• Reinforced Greek confidence and collective identity after years of invasion and warfare

• Strengthened the prestige of both Sparta and Athens:

  • Sparta gained glory for leading the final land victory

  • Athens gained enormous prestige from its earlier naval leadership and sacrifices during the war (Athens carrieddddd)

• Helped fuel growing Athenian exceptionalism and the idea that Athens had “saved Greece,” especially after Marathon and Salamis

• Set the stage for Athens’ rise as a major imperial and naval power through the later Delian League

• Internationally, Plataea demonstrated that even the massive Persian Empire could be defeated by a coalition of smaller Greek states fighting collectively for autonomy and survival

Leonidas

• Spartan king who led the Greeks Battle of Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion of Greece

• Led a small Greek force, famously including 300 Spartan Spartiates, against the invading army of Xerxes I and the Persians Empire

• Refused to retreat from Thermopylae despite overwhelming Persian numbers and many Greeks wanting to abandon post

  • reflecting Spartan ideals of courage, discipline, military duty, and anti-cowardice values

• Leonidas stayed behind with many of the remaining Greek troops and was killed in battle

• Became a symbol of heroic sacrifice for the polis and defense of Greek freedom against foreign invasion

• In later Greek memory, Leonidas represented Spartan military virtue, civic duty, and willingness to die honorably rather than surrender

Pericles

• 495-429 BCE (died from the plague); Alcmeonid

• one of the most influential political leaders in Athens during the 5th century BCE, associated with the height of Athenian democracy, imperial power, and cultural achievement

  • his father was Xanthippus, a general who helped defeat Persia at the Battle of Mycale

  • Main political rival was Cimon

• Described by Thucydides as the “first citizen of Athens” because of his enormous political influence despite Athens technically remaining a democracy

• Dominated Athenian politics for nearly 30 years (c. 461–429 BCE)

  • period often called the “Periclean Age” or “Golden Age of Athens”

• Helped shape Athenian hegemony and empire after the Persian Wars through leadership of the Delian League— steered their agenda

• Extremely popular and repeatedly elected strategos (general),

• Sponsored massive public building projects after the Persian sack of Athens:

  • rebuilding and monumentalizing the Acropolis

  • construction of the Parthenon

  • beautifying Athens to display its wealth, cultural power, and imperial prestige

    • like want ppl to visit Athens and feel awe

• Narrowed citizenship through the citizenship law of 451 BCE:

  • both parents had to be Athenian citizens for a child to qualify as a citizen

    • reduced the citizen body

    • discouraged inter-polis marriage

      • reinforced a more exclusive Athenian civic identity (Athens is for Athenians)

Delian League

• naval alliance formed in 478 BCE after the Persian Wars under the leadership (hegemony) of Athens

• Originally headquartered on the island of Delos, where the alliance treasury was kept

• Formed as a symmachia (military alliance), meaning member poleis cooperated for both defensive and offensive warfare

• The stated goal was to continue fighting Persia and protect Greek cities from future Persian attacks,

  • creating what became a long-term/perpetual alliance

• Included more than 150 Greek poleis, especially around the Aegean

• Member states contributed either:

  • ships/military service

  • or tribute money (phoros) paid into the league treasury

• Reflected the growing division of power in Greece:

  • Sparta = dominant land power

  • Athens = dominant naval/sea power

• Under Pericles, the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens around 454 BCE, symbolizing increasing Athenian control over the alliance

• shifted from a voluntary anti-Persian alliance into the basis of the Athenian Empire

  • as Athens increasingly controlled member states, tribute, fleets, and foreign policy

    • The league greatly increased Athenian wealth, military power, and imperial influence throughout the Greek world

Peace of Kallias

• 449 BCE (?)

• alleged peace agreement between Athens (and possibly the Delian League) and the Persian Empire sometime in the mid-5th century BCE after the Persian Wars

• The treaty is heavily debated because ancient evidence for it is unclear and inconsistent. like we dk if it was real/existed

  • Thucydides never mentions it

• Some later accounts (Isokrates) claim the Great King was

  bound by a treaty that would not allow him west of the Halys River (lowk not likely)

• Historians debate whether:

  • there was a formal written peace treaty,

  • or simply a de facto peace where active fighting gradually stopped without an official agreement

• The debate matters politically because if Persia was no longer an immediate threat, it raises the question: why pay into the Delian league?

  • Delian League increasingly became less about defending Greece from Persia and more about maintaining Athenian power and empire???

Pentacontaeia

“period of fifty years,”

• used by Thucydides for the period between the end of the Persian Wars in 479 BCE and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE

• defined by the rapid rise of Athens from leader of the Delian League into a major imperial power (archē)

• Athens expanded its influence by:

  • establishing colonies and kleruchies (settlements where Athenians retained citizenship— Athenian kleros on the land)

  • spreading democratic systems

  • controlling tribute-paying allied poleis (many allied poleis had to pay money (phoros) to Athens instead of contributing ships or troops in Delian League)

• Many allied states rebelled against growing Athenian control:

  • Thasos rebelled around 465 BCE because of disputes over resources, especially silver and gold

    • Sparta could not help Thasos because of a major helot uprising at home

  • Samos later rebelled in 440 BCE but was subdued by Athens

  • Euboea also revolted but was brought back under control

• Conflict increasingly developed between Athens and Sparta and their respective alliance systems:

  • Corinth and Megara went to war

  • Megara allied with Athens after Sparta failed to help them

  • Athens gained strategic territory around the Isthmus and into Boeotia

  • Athens was later pushed back by Spartan and Theban forces, showing that Spartan land power remained a serious threat

• In 446/445 BCE, Athens and Sparta signed the Thirty Years' Peace after mounting conflict and instability

• Historians often call this broader period the “First Peloponnesian War” because tensions between Athens and Sparta were already escalating toward the larger war that began in 431 BCE

Significance

• transformation of Athens from leader of a defensive alliance into an imperial hegemonic power

• Shows increasing tension between:

  • Athenian naval empire/democracy

  • and Spartan land-based oligarchic power

• Rebellions from allied states/of ppl leaving reveal that many members of the Delian League increasingly viewed Athens as controlling and imperial rather than protective

• The period lays the groundwork for the Peloponnesian War by creating fear in Sparta and resentment among Athens’ allies

• Demonstrates how the aftermath of the Persian Wars reshaped international politics in Greece into a struggle for hegemony between Athens and Sparta

Strategos

military general or "army leader."

• elected general and military commander

  • leading armies and fleets,

  • military planning,

  • defense of the polis,

  • and often diplomacy/foreign policy decisions

• elected, because military leadership was considered too important to assign randomly

• Since Athens was frequently at war and deeply tied to military/naval power, successful strategoi could gain enormous prestige and political influence

• military success translated directly into political power and public prestige (kleos)

• reflects how interconnected politics and warfare were in Athens: military leadership often meant guiding the direction of the polis itself

Long walls

• massive defensive walls built by Athens in the mid-5th century BCE, stretching roughly 7 km between Athens and its ports

• The project was likely first proposed by Themistocles and later expanded/overseen during the leadership of Pericles

• The walls connected Athens directly to:

  • Piraeus, the main naval harbor

  • and also to Phaleron, an older harbor area

• Their purpose was to ensure that Athens would never be cut off from:

  • its navy,

  • overseas trade,

  • imported grain/food,

  • and communication by sea

• Even if enemy armies (especially Sparta) invaded Attica and controlled the countryside, Athens could still survive because supplies and military forces could enter through the ports

Peloponnesian War

• major conflict fought from 431–404 BCE between:

  • Athens and its allies in the Delian League

  • and Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian League

• The war is primarily recorded by Thucydides

  • rgued that the deeper cause of the war was the growth of Athenian power and the fear this caused in Sparta

• conflict is often understood as:

  • new imperial/naval power (Athens)

  • vs old traditional land power (Sparta)

    • Athens relied on:

      • naval strength

      • empire/tribute,

      • and the Long Walls connecting the city to Piraeus

    • Sparta relied on:

      • superior land armies,

      • hoplite warfare,

      • and allied support across the Peloponnese

• Athens loses

• Ended the Athenian Empire and Athens’ dominance in Greece

• Demonstrated the destructive effects of imperial rivalry, stasis, plague, and prolonged warfare on the Greek world

• Sparta emerged victorious but could not maintain long-term dominance either

• The war weakened the Greek poleis overall and destabilized Greece politically and economically

  • everyone in Greece deadass broke

Epidamnus Affair

major diplomatic and military conflict in 435–433 BCE that helped trigger the Peloponnesian War by escalating tensions between Corinth, Corcyra, and Athens

• Epidamnus was a colony of Corcyra, which itself had originally been founded as a colony of Corinth

  • BUT Corinth and Corcyra hate each other despite their colonial connection

• In 435 BCE, civil war (stasis) broke out in Epidamnus:

  • democrats sought help from Corinth (Corinth = aristocratic???)

  • oligarchs aligned with Corcyra

• Corinth supported Epidamnus partly to weaken Corcyra and increase its own influence

  • even though Corinth itself was generally oligarchic politically

• Corcyra initially defeated Corinth at sea, demonstrating its strong naval power

• Traditionally, Corcyra had remained politically neutral and outside both the Delian League and Spartan alliance systems

• Fearing Corinthian retaliation, Corcyra sought an alliance with Athens in 433 BCE

  • Athens agreed only to a defensive alliance (epimachia), meaning:

    • Athens would help Corcyra only if Corcyra were attacked

    • not if Corcyra initiated aggression

  • alliance was politically significant because Athens (democratic/naval power) allied with oligarchic Corcyra against Corinth

    • interstate politics often mattered more than ideological consistency

• The conflict culminated in the Battle of Sybota, where both Corinth and Corcyra claimed victory

  • ontensified hostility between Athens and Corinth, one of Sparta’s most important allies

  • Revealed how local civil conflicts (stasis) could expand into wider interstate wars through alliance systems

  • Showed the growing polarization of the Greek world into Athenian and Spartan spheres of influence

  • Demonstrated the strategic importance of naval power and alliances in the late 5th century BCE

  • Highlighted how pragmatic Greek politics could be:

    • democratic Athens allied with oligarchic Corcyra

    • oligarchic Corinth backed democratic factions in Epidamnus

  • Helped convince Corinth and Sparta that Athens was becoming too expansionist and threatening, contributing to the broader fear that Thucydides identifies as the deeper cause of the Peloponnesian War

significance

• intensified hostility between Athens and Corinth, one of Sparta’s most important allies

• Revealed how local civil conflicts (stasis) could expand into wider interstate wars through alliance systems

• Showed the growing polarization of the Greek world into Athenian and Spartan spheres of influence

• Demonstrated the strategic importance of naval power and alliances in the late 5th century BCE

• Highlighted how pragmatic Greek politics could be:

  • democratic Athens allied with oligarchic Corcyra

  • oligarchic Corinth backed democratic factions in Epidamnus

• Helped convince Corinth and Sparta that Athens was becoming too expansionist and threatening, contributing to the broader fear that Thucydides identifies as the deeper cause of the Peloponnesian War

Potidaea

• Corinthian colony that was also a member of the Delian League under Athenian control, creating divided loyalties between ancestral/cultural ties to Corinth and political/military obligations to Athens

• By the 430s BCE, many allied states were becoming frustrated with increasingly heavy-handed Athenian imperial control, tribute demands, and restrictions on autonomy

  • Around 432 BCE, Corinth encouraged Potidaea to rebel against Athens and secretly sent military aid, escalating tensions between Corinth and Athens

    • effectively violated the Thirty Years' Peace between Athens and Sparta

  • Sparta privately promised Corinth that it would invade Attica if war broke out, though this did not happen immediately (If you invade Attica right when Potidaea rebels w/ our help, chances of successful rebellion SKYROCKET)

    • also violation of 30 yrs peace

• crises culminated in a major congress/summit at Sparta in 432/431 BCE:

  • Corinthian representatives argued Sparta should go to war against Athens

  • Athenians also happened to be present and defended themselves before the Spartans

Corinthian argument

• Corinth argued that Athens was becoming dangerously expansionist, ambitious, and imperial

• They urged Sparta not to focus only on legal technicalities of the peace treaty, but on the broader threat posed by growing Athenian power

• The argument centered heavily on fear and psychology:

  if Sparta waited too long, Athens would eventually dominate all of Greece, including Sparta itself

Athenian argument

• Athens defended itself legally, claiming it had not technically violated the peace treaty

• Athens also warned Sparta that war would not be quick or easy:

  • Athens had the Long Walls

  • a powerful navy

  • enormous financial resources

  • and a large empire/alliance network

ULTIMATELY!!! Spavotes that Athens has violated the 30 years peace

SIGNIFICANCE:

• one of the immediate triggers of the Peloponnesian War

• Revealed how local rebellions and alliance politics could escalate into pan-Greek conflict

• Exposed growing resentment toward Athenian imperialism within the Delian League

• Demonstrated that the coming war was driven not only by legal disputes, but by:

  • fear,

  • perceptions of power,

  • rivalry,

  • and anxiety over Athens’ growing empire

• Closely reflects Thucydides’ argument that the deeper cause of the war was Spartan fear of rising Athenian power (“the Thucydidean Trap”)

Siege of Melos

brutal episode during the Peloponnesian War in which Athens attacked and destroyed the neutral island polis of Melos in 416 BCE

• a Spartan colony culturally, but it was politically neutral and not formally part of either the Delian League or the Peloponnesian League

• Athens wanted control of Melos because of its strategic location in the Aegean, especially as a naval stopping point/base during the war

• Athens demanded that Melos submit and pay tribute, but the Melians refused, wanting to preserve their neutrality and independence

• MELIAN DIALOGUE

  • Melians argue:

    • Athens is giving them no real choice

    • resistance means destruction

    • submission means loss of freedom

    • and Athens is betraying its own democratic ideals and values

  • The Athenians respond with a harsh logic of power: the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

    • essentially argues that morality and justice matter less than survival, power, and strategic necessity during war

• Athens besieged and conquered Melos

  • killed the adult men

  • enslaved the women and children

  • and established an Athenian colony on the island

    • The event was viewed negatively across the Greek world and even disturbed some Athenians themselves

SIGNIFICANCE

• One of the clearest examples of Athenian imperialism and brutality during the war

• Often viewed as a classic example of realpolitik:

  • political pragmatism and strategic necessity overriding morality or ethical ideals

    • It doesn't matter what they have to do to get it even if its questionable they’ll do whatever they can get it.

• Demonstrates how far Athens had shifted from its earlier image as defender of Greek freedom during the Greco-Persian Wars

• The Melian Dialogue becomes a larger philosophical statement in Thucydides about:

  • power,

  • empire,

  • fear,

  • survival,

  • and the moral consequences of prolonged warfare

• Thucydides uses Melos to show how war can erode ethics, reshape political behavior, and push states toward increasingly ruthless actions

  • how war turns people to do morally reprehensible bad things (cost of war not just physically but also sacrifices you’re willing to make to your ethics.)

  • How a long drawn out war chips away at people and how they make choices and their ethics and who they are at the core

• The event became a lasting “stain” on Athenian history because it exposed the darker side of Athenian democracy and empire

Alcibiades

• 450–404 BCE) was an infamous and charismatic Athenian aristocrat, statesman, and strategos during the later Peloponnesian War

• Came from the powerful Alcmaeonidae and was related to Pericles

• Known for being brilliant, ambitious, persuasive, and militarily talented, but also controversial, excessive, and lacking sophrosyne (moderation/self-control)

  • Ancient sources portray him with both admiration and distrust:

    • admired for intelligence and charisma

    • criticized for arrogance, luxury, excess, unstable loyalties, and personal ambition

• A student and associate of Socrates

• First became a major political figure around 420 BCE and repeatedly moved in and out of favor in Athens:

  • ostracized/exiled multiple times

  • recalled repeatedly because Athens kept needing his abilities

    • Had old family xenia (guest-friendship) ties with Sparta, which helped him defect there after falling out with Athens

• One of the strongest supporters of the Sicilian Expedition, the massive Athenian invasion of Sicily that became a catastrophic disaster for Athens

• Shortly before the expedition, Athens experienced the “Violation of the Herms”:

  • sacred statues/herms of Hermes across the city were mutilated overnight

  • viewed as a terrible religious omen and possible political conspiracy

  • Alcibiades was accused of involvement in the desecration

    • many historians think the charges may have been politically motivated because he was controversial and associated with elite/aristocratic behavior

      • Sent to Sicily before standing trial, but later recalled to face charges; instead he fled and defected to Sparta

        • fell out of favor there too and defected to the Persians

        • Eventually attempted to return to Athens but forced out again

Significance

• Alcibiades became a symbol of both the brilliance and instability of late Athenian politics

• His constantly shifting loyalties reflect the intense political chaos and desperation of the later Peloponnesian War

• The Sicilian Expedition, which he strongly promoted, became one of the greatest military disasters in Athenian history:

  • Athens lost much of its navy

  • huge numbers of soldiers

  • and enormous financial resources

• Ancient writers often use Alcibiades to explore themes of:

  • ambition,

  • charisma,

  • excess,

  • unstable democracy,

  • and the dangers of talented individuals without moderation (sophrosyne)

• Athens’ repeated willingness to exile and then recall him also shows how divided and politically volatile the polis had become during the war

Sicilian Expedition

• 415–413 BCE

• massive Athenian military campaign during the Peloponnesian War in which Athens attempted to intervene in Sicily but suffered a catastrophic defeat

  • conflict began when Segesta (in Sicily) asked Athens for aid against neighboring Selinus, which was backed by Syracuse, a powerful Corinthian colony allied with Spartan interests

  • Athens was attracted by:

    • the supposed wealth/resources of Sicily (which sicily says they have)

    • strategic expansion

    • and the opportunity to weaken Corinthian/Spartan influence in the west

• Major disagreement broke out in Athens:

  • Alcibiades strongly supported the expedition

  • Nicias opposed it, arguing Athens already had enough problems at home

    • Nicias attempted to discourage the plan by insisting that if Athens invaded Sicily, it would require an enormous commitment of ships, money, and soldiers

    • Instead, the Ekklesia became even more enthusiastic and voted to send: over 100 triremes, around 5,000 hoplites, and eventually tens of thousands of men overall (HUGEEEE)

• Shortly before departure, Athens experienced the “Mutilation of the Herms,” where sacred statues of Hermes were vandalized across the city:

  • viewed as a terrible omen

  • and interpreted as possible political/religious conspiracy

  • Alcibiades was accused of involvement and later recalled to Athens for trial, but instead defected to Sparta

• Outcome

  • The expedition became a total disaster:

    • Athens lost nearly its entire fleet

    • huge numbers of soldiers and sailors died or were captured

    • very few Athenians returned home

  • Syracuse, Sparta, and Corinth successfully resisted the invasion

  • Athenian naval superiority was shattered and no longer guaranteed

  • Athens had to spend enormous resources rebuilding its military afterward

SIGNIFICANCE

• One of the greatest military catastrophes in ancient Greek history

• Marked a major turning point in the Peloponnesian War because Athens permanently lost much of its military strength, money, manpower, and prestige

• Revealed the dangers of:

  • imperial overexpansion

  • excessive ambition

  • and poor strategic judgment during wartime

• Although Athens continued fighting for nearly another decade, the Sicilian Expedition is often viewed as the moment Athens’ long-term defeat became likely

The Athenians and Peloponnesians had these antecedent grounds of complaint against each other: the complaint of Corinth was that her colony of Potidaea, and Corinthian and Peloponnesian citizens within it, were being besieged; that of Athens against the Peloponnesians that they had incited a town of hers, a member of her alliance and a contributor to her revenue, to evolt, and had come and were openly fighting against her on the side of the Potidaeans. For all this, war had not yet broken out: there was still truce for a while; for this was a private enterprise on the part of Corinth. But the siege of Potidaea put an end to her inaction; she had men inside it:

besides, she feared for the place. Immediately summoning the allies to Lacedaemon, she came

and loudly accused Athens of breach of the treaty and aggression on the rights of Peloponnese.

With her, the Aeginetans, formally unrepresented from fear of Athens, in secret proved not the

least urgent of the advocates for war, asserting that they had not the independence guaranteed to

them by the treaty. After extending the summons to any of their allies and others who might have

complaints to make of Athenian aggression, the Lacedaemonians held their ordinary assembly,

and invited them to speak. There were many who came forward and made their several

accusations; among them the Megarians, in a long list of grievances, called special attention to

the fact of their exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in

defiance of the treaty…” 1.66-67

• Passage gives the official/factual causes leading into the Peloponnesian War:

  • Corinth angry that Athens is besieging Potidaea

  • Athens angry that Corinthians/Peloponnesians encouraged revolt in Potidaea

  • Megara upset over exclusion from Athenian ports and markets

  • lots of allied complaints pile up against Athens

• Thucydides suggests the real cause is deeper than treaties/legalities

  • not just “who technically violated peace first”

  • underlying issue = fear of growing Athenian power

• Fear is EVERYWHERE in this passage:

  • Corinth fears losing influence/power

  • Aeginetans secretly advocate for war “from fear of Athens”

  • Megarians fear Athens’ economic control

  • Sparta fears Athens becoming too dominant

• War is presented as:

  • emotional,

  • psychological,

  • and rooted in insecurity/power politics

  • not purely rational or moral

• Corinth acts almost emotionally:

  • pushes Sparta toward war

  • frames Athens as dangerous and expansionist

  • wants Sparta to act before Athens becomes unbeatable

• Passage reflects Thucydides’ larger argument:

  rising powers create fear in older powers
  (“Thucydidean Trap”)

• Athenian exceptionalism:

  • Athens presented as:

    • powerful

    • imperial

    • economically dominant

    • expansionist

    • confident in law/political sophistication

  • other poleis increasingly view Athens suspiciously/as threatening

• Spartan exceptionalism:

  • Sparta framed more as:

    • cautious

    • conservative/traditional

    • slower to act

    • pressured into war by allies

  • Sparta still positioned as protector of Peloponnesian interests

• Alliance politics are SUPER messy:

  • “private enterprise” of Corinth drags larger alliances into conflict

  • local disputes spiral into pan-Greek war

  • shows interconnectedness of Greek interstate politics

• Bigger message/undertone:

  • wars rarely start from one isolated event

  • fear + power imbalance + alliance systems gradually make war inevitable

  • legal arguments matter less than perception, anxiety, and competition for power

• Thucydides also implies:

  • empire creates resentment

  • powerful states naturally generate fear in others

  • once fear spreads, peace treaties become fragile and unstable

“Besides, we [the Corinthians] consider that we have as good a right as any one to point out a neighbour’s

[Sparta’s] faults, particularly when we contemplate the great contrast between the two national characters; a

contrast of which, as far as we can see, you have little perception, having never yet considered what sort of

antagonists you will encounter in the Athenians, how widely, how absolutely different from yourselves. The

Athenians are addicted to innovation, and their designs are characterized by swiftness alike in conception and

execution; you have a genius for keeping what you have got, accompanied by a total want of invention, and when

forced to act you never go far enough. Again, they are adventurous beyond their power, and daring beyond their

judgment, and in danger they are sanguine; your wont is to attempt less than is justified by your power, to

mistrust even what is sanctioned by your judgment, and to fancy that from danger there is no release. Further,

there is promptitude on their side against procrastination on yours; they are never at home, you are never from it:

for they hope by their absence to extend their acquisitions, you fear by your advance to endanger what you have

left behind. They are swift to follow up a success, and slow to recoil from a reverse. Their bodies they spend

ungrudgingly in their country's cause; their intellect they jealously husband to be employed in her service. A

scheme unexecuted is with them a positive loss, a successful enterprise a comparative failure. The deficiency

created by the miscarriage of an undertaking is soon filled up by fresh hopes; for they alone are enabled to call a

thing hoped for a thing got, by the speed with which they act upon their resolutions. Thus they toil on in trouble

and danger all the days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting: their only

idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune

than the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might truly say that they were born into

the world to take no rest themselves and to give none to others.” 1. 70

• from the Corinthians speaking to Sparta in Thucydides before the Peloponnesian War

• Corinthians are basically telling Sparta:

  “you do NOT understand what kind of enemy Athens is”

• Passage frames Athens and Sparta as total opposites in national character

Athenian exceptionalism

• Athenians characterized as:

  • innovative

  • quick-thinking

  • fast acting

  • ambitious

  • expansionist

  • adventurous

  • restless

  • imperial

  • energetic

  • willing to take risks

• Athenians constantly:

  • want more

  • travel/expand

  • seek acquisitions

  • push boundaries

  • recover quickly from failure

• Athens presented as:

  • future-oriented

  • empire-building

  • aggressive and opportunistic

  • unable to remain still

• “born into the world to take no rest themselves and give none to others”

  • Athens portrayed as naturally expansionist and destabilizing

  • empire is framed almost as part of Athenian character itself

• Athenians are tied to:

  • naval power

  • mobility

  • travel

  • innovation

  • empire

  • economic expansion

Spartan exceptionalism

• Spartans characterized as:

  • conservative

  • cautious

  • slow-moving

  • traditional

  • defensive

  • hesitant

  • reluctant to change

• Sparta prefers:

  • preserving what it already has

  • stability over expansion

  • caution over risk

• Corinthians criticize Sparta for:

  • procrastination

  • slowness

  • lack of innovation

  • failure to respond aggressively enough

• Sparta tied to:

  • land power

  • staying “at home”

  • stability/tradition

  • fear of risking current power

• Implies Sparta fundamentally cannot behave like Athens because their political/social systems create different values and habits

What this tells us about war

• War is shaped not just by armies/resources but by:

  • political culture

  • national identity

  • collective psychology

  • character

• Different societies fight differently because they value different things

• Thucydides suggests:

  • conflict becomes inevitable when radically different powers compete for dominance

• Passage foreshadows:

  • long drawn-out war

  • Athens’ aggressiveness and adaptability

  • Sparta’s slowness but persistence

• Corinthians weaponize FEAR:

  • trying to scare Sparta into action

  • “if you wait too long Athens will surpass you”

Larger undertone/message

• Power and character are interconnected

  • Athenian empire comes from Athenian restlessness/ambition

  • Spartan caution comes from Spartan conservatism

• Passage presents the war almost as:

  clash of two fundamentally different civilizations/political personalities

• Even though Greeks share:

  • language

  • religion

  • Homeric culture

  • hoplite warfare traditions

  they still possess radically different political values and identities

• Thucydides uses this contrast to explain HOW the war unfolds:

  • Athens = dynamic but overreaching

  • Sparta = cautious but enduring

• Bigger idea:

  states are driven by collective character traits just as individuals are

• Also suggests:

  • empire creates endless motion/restlessness

  • powerful states become unable to stop expanding

  • expansion itself generates fear and eventually war

He [Perikles] told them to wait quietly, to pay attention to their

navy, to attempt no new conquests, and to expose the city to no

hazards during the war, and doing this, promised them a favorable

result. What they did was the very contrary, allowing private

ambitions and private interests, in matters apparently quite foreign

to the war, to lead them into projects unjust both to themselves and

to their allies—projects whose success would only conduce to the

honor and advantage of private persons, and whose failure entailed

certain disaster on the country in the war.” Thuc. 2.65

• discussing Pericles and Athens after his death during the Peloponnesian War (from plague)

• FACTS from passage:

  • Pericles advised Athens to:

    • rely on naval power

    • avoid risky expansion

    • avoid unnecessary conquests

    • protect the city during the war

  • After Pericles died, Athenians ignored this advice

  • Leaders/politicians pursued risky projects motivated by private ambition

  • These projects harmed both Athens and its allies

  • Passage especially foreshadows disasters like the Sicilian Expedition

Themes about war

• War distorts political priorities

  • people stop acting for collective survival

  • start pursuing:

    • personal glory

    • ambition

    • conquest

    • self-interest

• Thucydides suggests prolonged war weakens civic judgment

  • rational strategy replaced by emotional/personal motivations

  • democracy becomes unstable under pressure

• War damages not only cities physically but also:

  • ethics

  • political culture

  • civic responsibility

  • collective identity

• Passage reflects idea that:

  internal political decay can be as dangerous as the external enemy

Private interest vs public good

• HUGE dichotomy in passage:

  • Pericles = acting for long-term survival of polis

  • later leaders = acting for individual advancement/glory

• Suggests ideal polis requires citizens/leaders to subordinate private ambition to collective welfare

• Thucydides implies:

  • the polis reflects the character of its citizens

  • when citizens become selfish, the state itself deteriorates

• Individual moral failure becomes political failure

Athenian exceptionalism

• Passage still reinforces Athenian exceptionalism:

  • Athens powerful because of navy/intelligence/strategy

  • Pericles understands Athenian strengths realistically

• But also critiques Athens:

  • Athenians become overconfident and imperial

  • restless expansionism becomes self-destructive

• Athens portrayed as:

  • ambitious

  • energetic

  • innovative

  • but increasingly unable to restrain itself

• Their empire/drive for conquest eventually undermines them

Leadership and character

• Pericles presented almost exceptionally:

  • rational

  • disciplined

  • strategic

  • capable of controlling democracy

• After his death:

  • weaker leaders manipulate public opinion

  • democracy becomes driven by faction/private ambition

• Suggests great states depend heavily on quality leadership

Larger undertone/message

• Thucydides suggests empires often collapse from internal excess and poor judgment, not just enemy strength

• War gradually transforms societies morally and politically

  • chips away at moderation

  • encourages ambition and recklessness

• Bigger message:

  a polis survives only when citizens place collective welfare above personal ambition

• Passage also foreshadows:

  • decline of Athens

  • dangers of imperial overreach

  • collapse caused by abandoning disciplined strategy for glory-driven expansion

• Overall:

  • Athens’ downfall becomes partly self-inflicted

  • not simply caused by Sparta alone

Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to

others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is

why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their

private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for

capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty

bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his

condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary

life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called

upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious

looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this

ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief

safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the

protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code

which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.” 2.37

• from Pericles’ Funeral Oration in Thucydides

• Intended to honor the Athenian war dead and encourage Athenians to continue fighting during the Peloponnesian War

• Later hugely influential politically/rhetorically (ex: influences speeches like the Gettysburg Address)

FACTS from passage

• Athens described as a democracy:

  • rule of “the many instead of the few”

• Claims Athens:

  • values merit over class background

  • provides equal justice under law (isonomia)

  • allows participation regardless of wealth if someone can serve the state

• Athenians presented as personally free in everyday life

• Citizens still expected to obey:

  • laws

  • magistrates

  • unwritten social codes

Athenian exceptionalism

• Athens presented as:

  • unique

  • superior

  • model for others

  • innovative

  • trendsetting

  • NOT imitative

• “we are a pattern to others rather than imitators ourselves”

  • Athens constructs itself as culturally/politically exceptional

  • NOTTT followers yall follow us

• Democracy directly tied to:

  • freedom

  • merit

  • equality

  • openness

  • civic participation

• Passage suggests Athens’ political system creates superior citizens and superior society

• Athens frames itself as:

  • meritocratic

  • cosmopolitan

  • free

  • open socially and politically

• Huge contrast with implied Spartan values:

  • Sparta = rigid, militarized, conservative, surveillance-oriented

  • Athens = open, free, intellectually dynamic, socially flexible

Themes about war

• War presented as defense of:

  • democracy

  • freedom

  • Athenian way of life

• Funeral Oration turns military sacrifice into ideological sacrifice

  • soldiers died for exceptional political/cultural system

• Suggests morale and identity are essential parts of warfare

  • Athenians should keep fighting because Athens itself is worth preserving

• Passage shows how states use rhetoric during war:

  • unify population

  • create pride

  • justify sacrifice

  • strengthen civic identity

Ideology vs reality

• Passage highly idealized/propagandistic

  • Athens claims equality and openness

  • BUT:

    • women excluded politically

    • enslaved people excluded

    • noncitizens excluded

    • aristocratic influence still mattered

• Meritocracy claim partly ideological:

  • social mobility existed more than elsewhere in Greece

  • but not equally for everyone

• Tension:

  Athens presents itself as democratic and free while simultaneously operating an empire over allied states

Larger undertone/message

• Pericles argues Athens’ greatness comes directly from democracy itself

  • political structure shapes national character

• Suggests:

  free citizens create stronger, more creative, more loyal polis

• Passage constructs Athens almost as moral/civilizational ideal

• Also creates idea that:

  • citizenship is active

  • democracy requires participation

  • freedom depends on obedience to civic laws

• Bigger message:

  Athens is worth dying for because its way of life is uniquely exceptional

• Thucydides also subtly leaves room for irony:

  • later in the war Athens will contradict many of these ideals

  • ex: Melos, imperial brutality, political instability

• So the speech also creates tension between:

  • democratic ideals

  • and imperial reality

Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country, it has been to show that our

stake in the struggle is not the same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the

panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite proofs established…. But

none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or

poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding

that vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings, and

reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make

sure of their vengeance and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the uncertainty of

final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus

choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonor, but met danger

face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from

their fear, but from their glory. So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors… must

yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her

fills your hearts; and then when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by

courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honor in action that men were enabled to win all this,

and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of

their valor, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer.”

• Passage from Pericles’ Funeral Oration in Thucydides during the Peloponnesian War

• Explicitly functioning as a rallying speech:

  • honor the dead

  • encourage Athenians to continue fighting

  • strengthen civic morale and identity

FACTS from passage

• Pericles argues Athens has unique “blessings” worth defending

• Dead soldiers are praised for:

  • courage

  • honor

  • duty

  • willingness to sacrifice themselves for Athens

• Soldiers chose:

  death resisting over life submitting

• Athenians are urged to:

  • admire Athens

  • love Athens

  • continue defending Athens through sacrifice and courage

Themes about war

• War presented as:

  • honorable

  • meaningful

  • tied to civic identity

  • necessary to preserve Athens’ way of life

• Military sacrifice becomes:

  • moral

  • patriotic

  • ideological

• War not just about survival:

  • about protecting values and identity

• Passage glorifies:

  • bravery

  • self-sacrifice

  • collective duty over private interest

• Suggests:

  the highest contribution a citizen can make is giving themselves for the polis

  Athenian exceptionalism

  • Athens portrayed as uniquely valuable and superior

  • Pericles argues Athenians have MORE to lose than other poleis because Athens is exceptional

  • Athens associated with:

    • democracy

    • freedom

    • honor

    • glory

    • opportunity

    • civic participation

    • social mobility

    • greatness

  • Implied contrast with Sparta:

    • Spartan system less open/free

    • Athens framed as culturally/politically richer and more desirable

  • Passage creates intense civic pride:

    love Athens because Athens is extraordinary

  • Athenians portrayed almost as chosen/special people because of their polis and political system

  Nationalism / civic identity

  • Strong proto-nationalist feeling:

    • identity deeply tied to polis

    • willingness to die for Athens becomes central virtue

  • Dead soldiers symbolize:

    • ideal Athenian citizenship

    • embodiment of democratic values

    • collective honor of polis

  • Passage teaches citizens HOW to think about themselves:

    • courageous

    • self-sacrificing

    • duty-bound

    • honorable

  Larger undertone/message

  • Pericles argues:

    Athens’ greatness exists because citizens are willing to sacrifice for it

  • Polis and citizen reflect each other:

    • great citizens create great polis

    • great polis inspires great citizens

  • Suggests freedom/democracy require constant defense and sacrifice

  • Emotional goal of speech:

    • make Athenians emotionally attached to Athens

    • motivate continued participation in war despite losses

  • Bigger message:

    civic identity and collective belief can sustain a society through war

  • Thucydides also subtly shows power of political rhetoric:

    • speeches shape morale

    • shape identity

    • justify sacrifice

    • sustain long wars

  • There’s also tragic irony:

    • Pericles idealizes Athens at the exact moment the war will gradually erode many of these ideals through plague, imperialism, factionalism, and violence

For ourselves [Athens], we shall not trouble you [Melos] with specious

pretenses—either of how we have a right to our empire because we

overthrew the Persians or are now attacking you because of wrong that you

have done us—and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in

return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that

you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or that you

have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the

real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right

[dikaia = justice], as the world goes, is only in question between equals

in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what

they must.”

• Passage from the Melian Dialogue in Thucydides during the Peloponnesian War

• Athenians speaking to Melos before destroying the island in the Siege of Melos

FACTS from passage

• Melos is neutral and argues it has done Athens no wrong

• Athens openly says:

  • they are NOT interested in moral arguments or justice

  • they are speaking only in terms of power and practicality

• Athenians explicitly claim:

  “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”

• Athens demands submission because Athens is militarily stronger

Themes about war

• War strips away moral ideals and exposes raw power politics

• Passage presents war as:

  • pragmatic

  • ruthless

  • governed by power rather than justice

• Suggests:

  morality only matters when powers are equal

• War transforms states morally:

  • survival and empire override ethics

  • force becomes justification itself

• Passage reflects “realpolitik”:

  • political necessity prioritized over morality or ideals

Athenian exceptionalism

• HUGE shift from earlier Athenian self-presentation in Pericles’ Funeral Oration

• Earlier Athens:

  • democracy

  • freedom

  • equality

  • justice

  • merit

  • civic pride

• Here Athens presents itself as:

  • imperial

  • dominant

  • unapologetically powerful

  • entitled to rule because it CAN

• Athens no longer even pretends empire is morally justified

• Their identity now tied to:

  • power

  • naval dominance

  • empire

  • coercion

• Persian Wars still linger in background:

  • Athenians mention possibility of claiming empire because they defeated Persia

  • but even THEY dismiss that justification as unnecessary

• This signals ideological transformation:

  Athens moves from defender of Greek freedom to imperial hegemon

Justice and democracy

• Passage creates tension with Athenian democratic ideals

• At home Athens celebrates:

  • equality under law (isonomia)

  • justice

  • freedom

• Abroad Athens acts completely differently:

  • justice irrelevant

  • strength determines outcomes

• Shows contradiction between:

  • democratic self-image

  • imperial behavior

Larger undertone/message

• Thucydides making broader philosophical point about war and human nature

• Suggests:

  power tends to erode morality

• War reveals uncomfortable truths about:

  • empire

  • fear

  • domination

  • survival

• Passage implies:

  • states often abandon ideals when power is threatened

  • morality becomes secondary to maintaining empire

• Melian Dialogue becomes one of the clearest statements of:

  • realpolitik

  • imperial logic

  • “might makes right”

• Bigger message:

  prolonged war changes political character and ethical boundaries

• Athens itself becomes transformed by empire and war:

  • once symbol of freedom against Persia

  • now acting similarly coercive toward weaker states

• Thucydides uses Melos almost as warning:

  • imperial ambition and endless war corrupt democratic ideals and civic morality

This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in this war, or, in my

opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to the victors, and

most calamitous to the conquered.” They were beaten at all points and

altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were destroyed, as the

saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet, their army—everything

was destroyed, and few out of many returned home. Such were the

events in Sicily.” 7.87

• Refers to aftermath/significance of the Sicilian Expedition during the Peloponnesian War

FACTS

• Athens loses:

  • most/all of expeditionary fleet

  • thousands of soldiers and hoplites

  • enormous financial resources

• Very few Athenians return from Sicily

• Athenian naval superiority badly damaged

• Athens technically continues fighting for about another decade

• BUT Sicily marks major turning point toward eventual defeat

Themes about war

• War causes exhaustion and slow destruction even before final defeat

• A state can technically survive militarily while already being psychologically/politically broken

• Passage reflects:

  • cumulative damage of prolonged war

  • attrition

  • overextension

  • imperial collapse

• War destroys:

  • manpower

  • economy

  • morale

  • political stability

  • civic confidence

• Suggests:

  one disastrous decision can permanently alter balance of power

Athenian exceptionalism

• Sicily exposes darker side of Athenian exceptionalism:

  • ambition becomes overreach

  • confidence becomes hubris

  • expansionism becomes self-destructive

• Earlier Athens believed:

  • they were unstoppable naval power

  • democracy/empire made them exceptional

  • they could expand endlessly

• Sicilian disaster shatters image of invincibility

• Athens still demonstrates resilience:

  • continue fighting despite catastrophic losses

  • reflects endurance/resources of empire

• BUT exceptionalism now looks tragic rather than triumphant

What this tells us about character/nature

• Athenians portrayed as:

  • ambitious

  • restless

  • unwilling to stop expanding even during crisis

• Passage reinforces idea from Thucydides:

  Athens’ greatest strengths become its weaknesses

• Their:

  • energy

  • daring

  • imperial ambition
    eventually push them beyond sustainable limits

Larger undertone/message

• Thucydides presents war as:

  • corrosive

  • transformative

  • difficult to control once begun

• Sicily becomes symbol of:

  • imperial overreach

  • failed leadership

  • consequences of pride and bad judgment

• Bigger message:

  empires often collapse not because they are weak, but because they overestimate their power

• Also shows:

  • war changes societies gradually

  • defeat often begins long before final surrender

• Athens’ downfall becomes:

  • partly self-inflicted

  • tied to ambition and inability to restrain itself

• Tragic undertone:

  • the same qualities that built Athenian greatness ultimately contribute to its destruction